Based on Sijie Dai's fantastic little novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002) translated excellently to film. Telling the story of two young men in Maoist China that who are set to the country to do manual labor and be "re-educated," the movie tells its story gently, nostalgically.
The tow are good friends, relying on each other to learn what they need to so they can fit in with the mountain village people. They also both fall in love with the seamstresses daughter. And she falls under their spell as well, and under the spell of the forbidden Western literature that they have hidden.
Going out to the remote ponds and wild areas, they share this literature, and she is especially entranced by Balzac. She and one of the boys become involved, but an ending comes to their love affair, that I will not explain fully.
The film is lovingly shot...with the mountainous areas are beautiful. A feeling of nostalgia somehow pervades even in the filming of the movie. It is quiet and yet profound. The film is really nicely done all around, a movie that is not geared to be a blockbuster, but to be more timeless, more a work of art.
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